2,679 research outputs found
Evidence on the existence and impact of corruption in state asset sales in China 1
We document evidence of corruption in Chinese state asset sales. These sales involved stakes in partially privatized firms, providing a benchmark – the price of publicly traded shares – to measure under-pricing. We document under-pricing of more than 70 percent, which is correlated with deal attributes associated with misgovernance and corruption. Sales by “disguised ” owners that misrepresenting their state ownership to elude regulatory scrutiny are discounted 5-10 percentage points more than sales by other owners; related party transactions are similarly discounted. Post-transfer profitability is higher, though uncorrelated with under-pricing, suggesting that ownership transfer improved efficiency, even when the transfers themselves were corrupted
Quasi-normal modes, area spectra and multi-horizon spacetimes
We suggest an interpretation for the highly damped QNM frequencies of the
spherically symmetric multi-horizon spacetimes (Reissner-Nordstrom,
Schwarzschild-deSitter, Reissner-Nordstrom-deSitter) following Maggiore's
proposal about the link between the asymptotic QNM frequencies and the black
hole thermodynamics. We show that the behavior of the asymptotic frequencies is
easy to understand if one assumes that all of the horizons have the same
equispaced area spectra. The QNM analysis is then consistent with the choice of
the area spectra to be the one originally proposed for the black hole's horizon
by Bekenstein: A=8\pi n (in Planck units). The interpretation of the highly
damped QNM frequencies in the multi-horizon case is based on the similar
grounds as in the single horizon (Schwarzschild) case, but it has some new
features that are discussed in the paper.Comment: 8 pages, v2: no physics changed, some references added, few sentences
added in the discussion part
Using visual feedback distortion to alter coordinated pinching patterns for robotic rehabilitation
Optical Properties of GaSb Nanofibers
Amorphous GaSb nanofibers were obtained by ion beam irradiation of bulk GaSb single-crystal wafers, resulting in fibers with diameters of ~20 nm. The Raman spectra and photoluminescence (PL) of the ion irradiation-induced nanofibers before and after annealing were studied. Results show that the Raman intensity of the GaSb LO phonon mode decreased after ion beam irradiation as a result of the formation of the amorphous nanofibers. A new mode is observed at ~155 cm-1 both from the unannealed and annealed GaSb nanofiber samples related to the A1g mode of Sb–Sb bond vibration. Room temperature PL measurements of the annealed nanofibers present a wide feature band at ~1.4–1.6 eV. The room temperature PL properties of the irradiated samples presents a large blue shift compared to bulk GaSb. Annealed nanofibers and annealed nanofibers with Au nanodots present two different PL peaks (400 and 540 nm), both of which may originate from Ga or O vacancies in GaO. The enhanced PL and new band characteristics in nanostructured GaSb suggest that the nanostructured fibers may have unique applications in optoelectronic devices
The Phyre2 web portal for protein modeling, prediction and analysis
Phyre2 is a suite of tools available on the web to predict and analyze protein structure, function and mutations. The focus of Phyre2 is to provide biologists with a simple and intuitive interface to state-of-the-art protein bioinformatics tools. Phyre2 replaces Phyre, the original version of the server for which we previously published a paper in Nature Protocols. In this updated protocol, we describe Phyre2, which uses advanced remote homology detection methods to build 3D models, predict ligand binding sites and analyze the effect of amino acid variants (e.g., nonsynonymous SNPs (nsSNPs)) for a user's protein sequence. Users are guided through results by a simple interface at a level of detail they determine. This protocol will guide users from submitting a protein sequence to interpreting the secondary and tertiary structure of their models, their domain composition and model quality. A range of additional available tools is described to find a protein structure in a genome, to submit large number of sequences at once and to automatically run weekly searches for proteins that are difficult to model. The server is available at http://www.sbg.bio.ic.ac.uk/phyre2. A typical structure prediction will be returned between 30 min and 2 h after submission
Theory of differential inclusions and its application in mechanics
The following chapter deals with systems of differential equations with
discontinuous right-hand sides. The key question is how to define the solutions
of such systems. The most adequate approach is to treat discontinuous systems
as systems with multivalued right-hand sides (differential inclusions). In this
work three well-known definitions of solution of discontinuous system are
considered. We will demonstrate the difference between these definitions and
their application to different mechanical problems. Mathematical models of
drilling systems with discontinuous friction torque characteristics are
considered. Here, opposite to classical Coulomb symmetric friction law, the
friction torque characteristic is asymmetrical. Problem of sudden load change
is studied. Analytical methods of investigation of systems with such
asymmetrical friction based on the use of Lyapunov functions are demonstrated.
The Watt governor and Chua system are considered to show different aspects of
computer modeling of discontinuous systems
Variational Methods for Biomolecular Modeling
Structure, function and dynamics of many biomolecular systems can be
characterized by the energetic variational principle and the corresponding
systems of partial differential equations (PDEs). This principle allows us to
focus on the identification of essential energetic components, the optimal
parametrization of energies, and the efficient computational implementation of
energy variation or minimization. Given the fact that complex biomolecular
systems are structurally non-uniform and their interactions occur through
contact interfaces, their free energies are associated with various interfaces
as well, such as solute-solvent interface, molecular binding interface, lipid
domain interface, and membrane surfaces. This fact motivates the inclusion of
interface geometry, particular its curvatures, to the parametrization of free
energies. Applications of such interface geometry based energetic variational
principles are illustrated through three concrete topics: the multiscale
modeling of biomolecular electrostatics and solvation that includes the
curvature energy of the molecular surface, the formation of microdomains on
lipid membrane due to the geometric and molecular mechanics at the lipid
interface, and the mean curvature driven protein localization on membrane
surfaces. By further implicitly representing the interface using a phase field
function over the entire domain, one can simulate the dynamics of the interface
and the corresponding energy variation by evolving the phase field function,
achieving significant reduction of the number of degrees of freedom and
computational complexity. Strategies for improving the efficiency of
computational implementations and for extending applications to coarse-graining
or multiscale molecular simulations are outlined.Comment: 36 page
Back reaction, emission spectrum and entropy spectroscopy
Recently, an interesting work, which reformulates the tunneling framework to
directly produce the Hawking emission spectrum and entropy spectroscopy in the
tunneling picture, has been received a broad attention. However, during the
emission process, most related observations have not incorporated the effects
of back reaction on the background spacetime, whose derivations are therefore
not the desiring results for the real physical process. With this point as a
central motivation, in this paper we suitably adapt the \emph{reformulated}
tunneling framework so that it can well accommodate the effects of back
reaction to produce the Hawking emission spectrum and entropy spectroscopy.
Consequently, we interestingly find that, when back reaction is considered, the
Parikh-Wilczek's outstanding observations that, an isolated radiating black
hole has an unitary-evolving emission spectrum that is \emph{not} precisely
thermal, but is related to the change of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, can
also be reproduced in the reformulated tunneling framework, meanwhile the
entropy spectrum has the same form as that without inclusion of back reaction,
which demonstrates the entropy quantum is \emph{independent} of the effects of
back reaction. As our final analysis, we concentrate on the issues of the black
hole information, but \emph{unfortunately} find that, even including the
effects of back reaction and higher-order quantum corrections, such tunneling
formalism can still not provide a mechanism for preserving the black hole
information.Comment: 16 pages, no figure, use JHEP3.cls. to be published in JHE
Grifonin-1: A Small HIV-1 Entry Inhibitor Derived from the Algal Lectin, Griffithsin
Background:
Griffithsin, a 121-residue protein isolated from a red algal Griffithsia sp., binds high mannose N-linked glycans of virus surface glycoproteins with extremely high affinity, a property that allows it to prevent the entry of primary isolates and laboratory strains of T- and M-tropic HIV-1. We used the sequence of a portion of griffithsin's sequence as a design template to create smaller peptides with antiviral and carbohydrate-binding properties.
Methodology/Results:
The new peptides derived from a trio of homologous β-sheet repeats that comprise the motifs responsible for its biological activity. Our most active antiviral peptide, grifonin-1 (GRFN-1), had an EC50 of 190.8±11.0 nM in in vitro TZM-bl assays and an EC50 of 546.6±66.1 nM in p24gag antigen release assays. GRFN-1 showed considerable structural plasticity, assuming different conformations in solvents that differed in polarity and hydrophobicity. Higher concentrations of GRFN-1 formed oligomers, based on intermolecular β-sheet interactions. Like its parent protein, GRFN-1 bound viral glycoproteins gp41 and gp120 via the N-linked glycans on their surface.
Conclusion:
Its substantial antiviral activity and low toxicity in vitro suggest that GRFN-1 and/or its derivatives may have therapeutic potential as topical and/or systemic agents directed against HIV-1
Nasty Viruses, Costly Plasmids, Population Dynamics, and the Conditions for Establishing and Maintaining CRISPR-Mediated Adaptive Immunity in Bacteria
Clustered, Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) abound in the genomes of almost all archaebacteria and nearly half the eubacteria sequenced. Through a genetic interference mechanism, bacteria with CRISPR regions carrying copies of the DNA of previously encountered phage and plasmids abort the replication of phage and plasmids with these sequences. Thus it would seem that protection against infecting phage and plasmids is the selection pressure responsible for establishing and maintaining CRISPR in bacterial populations. But is it? To address this question and provide a framework and hypotheses for the experimental study of the ecology and evolution of CRISPR, I use mathematical models of the population dynamics of CRISPR-encoding bacteria with lytic phage and conjugative plasmids. The results of the numerical (computer simulation) analysis of the properties of these models with parameters in the ranges estimated for Escherichia coli and its phage and conjugative plasmids indicate: (1) In the presence of lytic phage there are broad conditions where bacteria with CRISPR-mediated immunity will have an advantage in competition with non-CRISPR bacteria with otherwise higher Malthusian fitness. (2) These conditions for the existence of CRISPR are narrower when there is envelope resistance to the phage. (3) While there are situations where CRISPR-mediated immunity can provide bacteria an advantage in competition with higher Malthusian fitness bacteria bearing deleterious conjugative plasmids, the conditions for this to obtain are relatively narrow and the intensity of selection favoring CRISPR weak. The parameters of these models can be independently estimated, the assumption behind their construction validated, and the hypotheses generated from the analysis of their properties tested in experimental populations of bacteria with lytic phage and conjugative plasmids. I suggest protocols for estimating these parameters and outline the design of experiments to evaluate the validity of these models and test these hypotheses
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